In their article “Breathing Patterns Found in Heart Attack Patients” (International Journal of Yoga Therapy, Volume 2, Number 1 / 1991) Alan Hymes, MD and Phil Nuernberger, PhD share their observation that of 153 heart attack patients surveyed, 100% (that is ALL 153 patients) were chest breathers, in whom no diaphragm expansion (let alone belly expansion) could be observed. Sure, it’s a small sample size with no control group, but 100% of 153 patients chosen randomly is still staggering.

SO, if you want a healthy heart unto old age, learn how to release your abdominal muscles and expand your belly down and forward as you enhale, and draw it gently in and up as you exhale. Better yet, work on expanding your entire belly-waist-lower back axis like a tire in all directions as you breath in, and contract it towards the center as you breath out. Yoga breathing can create a healthy habit that might save or significantly lengthen your life. No Joke.

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About
Shy Sayar

Shy Sayar is a teacher and therapist with over 5000 hours of experience bringing yoga to students of all levels, treating patients, and training yoga teachers around the globe. Shy believes in Teaching People – Not Poses, since the practices of yoga are infinitely adaptable to fit the practitioner’s stages of development, and there is no need to push the body into arbitrary shapes. Instead, his Tantravaya yoga method integrates the classical Eight Limbs of Yoga, equally cultivating the body, breath and mind to bring each practitioner to optimal, holistic health. While the ultimate aim of yoga is to reveal the interconnectedness of all beings as the expression of one eternal life, Shy’s teaching refrains from overstating esoterics and focuses instead on bringing about this awakened consciousness by emphasizing the ease of the breath, the integrity of the musculature at work, and the serenity of the mind.
Shy is the founder and owner of Yoga One Studios in Northern California. He has offered coursework on education and pedagogy, as well as yoga philosophy and classical Indian literature at the University of California, Berkeley. In his yoga teaching, Shy integrates his experience in higher education with skillful attention to different learning styles, making even the most complex teachings approachable to every student. His unique Tantravaya Yoga Therapy method has shown remarkable results in posture correction, pain relief and improved balance, as well as healing emotional trauma and addressing the roots of psychological symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. Himself an avid athlete, Shy works with both elite and amateur athletes – including equestrians, runners, climbers, et al. – in order to maximize performance while preventing injury, as well as expediting recovery from injury. He is internationally recognized for offering the highest quality Yoga Teacher Trainings around the world, with exceptional emphasis on the sciences of anatomy and physiology, classical and contemporary theory and philosophy, and the most extensive practical training. He also specializes in teaching anatomy, physiology, diagnostics and therapeutics in teacher training programs worldwide.